Miami Officers To Pack Pistols Like Criminals Use

July 11, 1987

MIAMI -- Police officers will patrol the streets this fall armed with new, state-of-the-art semi-automatic pistols similar to the high-powered weapons used by criminals on Miami Vice, a police spokesman said on Friday.

City commissioners approved a request on Thursday from City Manager Cesar Odio and Police Chief Clarence Dickson for $374,000 to buy 1,100 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistols with 17-round clips, ammunition and spare parts.

The $374,000 also covers ammunition and spare parts, officials said.

The Glock was chosen for a number of reasons, but primarily because ``the bigger the gun, the bigger the ego,`` said Reginald Roundtree, a police spokesman.

``Drug dealers don`t have little egos, so they don`t have little guns,`` he said.

``Officers are finally going to achieve the psychological positiveness of having a weapon comparable to what they`re running into on the streets,`` Roundtree said. ``These guns definitely will pay for themselves in the long- run.

The Glocks will replace the Smith & Wesson .38-caliber revolvers now in use, Roundtree said. The new weapons will be available this fall, he said.

A six-month experiment determined the Glock to be ``reliable, accurate and very fine,`` said City Commissioner J. L. Plummer. Twenty-five guns were used during the trial period, he said.

The Miami Police Training Unit conducted the test of the new generation of weapons, Roundtree said.

Purchase of the guns will be financed with money from an old bond issue, officials said. Each weapon will cost between $400 and $500, officials said.

The Glock was picked because of the weapons criminals are now using. The gun has the firepower of a .357 Magnum, Roundtree said.